Montreal, Quebec City and New Brunswick!

Our drive into Montreal had to be one of the bumpiest drives we have had in years. It even rivals the roads in Alaska or Louisiana. Potholes you could lose a small car in, patch jobs that could serve as speed bumps. Faded or nonexistent lines separating the 4 lanes of traffic combined with the speeds of people rushing to and from work and you have yourselves a sh#tshow. The fact that all the signs were in French did not hinder us, we just followed our trusty GPS and we arrived at our first destination without a hitch!

Where was our first destination you ask? Well, it was right in the heart of the city. Complete with bustling commuters and narrow one-way roads. We did good though and were able to score a parking spot large enough for our 28’ rig right in front of…..The accordion store of course! Do you know how many accordion stores that are in the U.S. and Canada combined? Me neither but if I were to have to guess, I would say it is less than a dozen. When Barb found out there was one in Montreal, she just had to go!

Accordion Excellence is in a very diverse neighborhood. We were a little intimidated when we had to buzz ourselves in. Would they be friendly? Would they even speak English? We hit the buzzer on the outside of the building and were let in. “Bonjour!” said the man at the top of the stairs. “English?” I asked? “Of course, I am an old Italian, come on in!”

"Bill" was as friendly has could be. (I don't remember his name so I am just going to call him Bill) There were posters of him plastered all over the walls advertising events across Canada and the U.S. It soon became obvious that we were in front of accordion royalty. He asked what he could do for us and Barb explained that she was looking for some sheet music for beginners who were just learning to read music. Rather than scoff at her, he asked her to sit down and inquired about what songs she liked. They talked for about 10 minutes and he said “I will give you a quick lesson before you leave”.

He asked about what kind of accordion she had and I offered to go get it. “Of course, go get it”. When I brought it back in, he immediately brought it over to the technician who inspected it and went through every key, listening to the notes in about 90 seconds. He said the notes were almost perfect. He then went through the finer details on her accordion, showing us the wear, what was in good shape and what was showing its age. He said it was in excellent shape and originated in Italy but they had a plant in the U.S. around 1940. He valued it at $4,000-$4,500. When I told him she paid $150 for it he said “You got a gift my friend”. I felt like we were on The Antique Roadshow!

Meanwhile in the other room I hear Barb and "Bill" talking. When he started playing, I wandered over to see. One word “Incredible”.

When he was done they talked a little bit more and he gave Barb his card telling her to email him at any time and he would send her any music she wanted for free and offer any advice. I offered to pay him for his time he said “No, we do not get many visitors so we like to take care of them”.

I took some pictures of the inside of the shop but also found this very interesting video which shows it better.  It is mostly in French but is in English during what I considered the most interesting part.

Barb had a big smile on her face and was like a little girl on Christmas morning as we left the store.

From there we went to the KOA Montreal South where we checked in. At $61ca/night (w/e), it was the perfect place to spend a few days.

The next day we went to check out Old Montreal. For those you who know us, you know we are not city folk so I was already expecting not to like it. But surprisingly, I did not hate it as much as I thought I would. We took a taxi into town which was a challenge unto itself. At $60ca each way it is not the cheapest way to get into town but it is better than trying to find a parking spot for a large truck down there!

It took a bit for us to explain where we wanted to be dropped off but the driver finally figured it out and we were dropped off at the Notre-Dame Basilica . We paid our $30ca to get in ($15/person) and wow! Definitely worth it. I am not going to try and describe it in words….

From there we wandered over to Chinatown. We had never been in any sort of Chinatown before. Very interesting.

At one point we were stopped and asked to do a survey. Why not. They asked us a bunch of questions; where are we from, why brought us here, how safe did we feel, how much money we were going to spend…… We have everything pretty high ratings but that would have changed had they caught us a ½ hour later when we went to try and find a particular restaurant. It was in a very sketchy neighborhood with drunks and druggies. They were smoking and drinking right in plain sight. We had to walk right by them and they left us alone but it was a little unsettling.

We did not go to that restaurant but instead went back to the busy street and went to xxxx. It was delicious! After we ate, we ran into Dino sleeping one off on the sidewalk. We did not even know he was up here! If you look closely, you can see Lisa is on the left edge. We did not want to disturb them so we just moved on. 

Then it was off to Old Montreal down by the waterfront. Very cool old buildings but the pictures did not do them justice. Lots of activity, lots of people, vendors and restaurants.

Many of the young girls (wanna be Instagram Influencers) were posing for pictures hoping to become the next 15 Minutes of Fame cover girl. Pretty silly actually. But I thought, why not? Here is my pose I have self-titled Old man pondering life.

That was taken while we were waiting for our taxi. That was quite an ordeal itself. We called the same guy back and Barb tried telling him that we were at the Imax Science Museum. He quickly said "20 minutes". 45 minutes later he called back and said he was waiting for us in front of where he dropped us off. Ugh! But he eventually found us and we made it home!

The next morning it was time to pack up and head to Quebec City. The roads out of town in this direction were much better. There were some patches that were rough but for the most part it was smooth sailing.

Our destination of the day was Montmorency Falls. At 275' high, these falls are 100' higher Niagara Falls. The park has a visitors center, restaurant, food trucks, a sky tram and boardwalks right to the falls. 

While all of this was beautiful, we were there for one thing…. The zip line! The zip line extends from one side of the gorge to the other a good 300' above the water below. Barb has ziplined before in Oregon with Jessica, this is my first time. I would not say that I have a fear of heights, I have a fear of falling. So, I was more than a little hesitant!

We paid our $29ca each, got harnessed up and waited in line.

I don’t know what it is about guys being more nervous than woman but the guy in front of me as scared as well, while his girlfriend seemed totally at ease. He looked down the 300' to the water at the bottom of the gorge and said “Man, that water looks cold”. I told him “You won’t even feel the water, the fall will kill you”. They have two runs open so couples can go side by side. When it is your turn, they double check your harness, hook you to the line and wait for the signal from the other end. They then open the gates and count down from 3. At 1, you are both supposed to step off the platform and zip down to the other side. All was going well until the guy in front of us. They opened the doors, counted down and they were off! Well, the woman was off. The guy just stood there staring into the abyss and said “Oh, hell no”. Finally, after a little coaxing he was off and across the gorge.

The tiny green speck in the middle is the landing on the other side

We were up next and all I could think about was “Don’t be that guy”. My heart was racing as they hooked us up and opened the gate. Scared sh#tless would be an accurate description. At “1”, Barb was off like a rocket, I hesitated one second and stepped off. I am not sure I breathed the entire time but I do remember telling myself to look down and around. At the end you mind tells you you are coming in way too fast so you are kinda freaking out but about 20’ out there is a braking system that brings you to an abrupt stop.

You cannot have a phone, camera or anything in your pockets while you do this so there are no pictures of us but here is a video of someone else coming across. 

Barb was once again all smiles at the end. I was looking around kinda dazed and confused wondering what the F just happened! It was a rush, I did it and would do it again.

We had planned to walk Old Quebec City and take in some more sights but after an hour of driving around downtown trying to find a place to park our truck and camper we were both over it and headed out of town to a rest area near Beaumont that offers 6 free campsites. The sites were just the right size for our setup, I would not take anything bigger into this back area.  

Before we knew it we were leaving Quebec and entering New Brunswick and a new time zone that we have never been in. The Atlantic Time Zone. Were now 4 hours ahead of Forrest in Oregon, 3 hours ahead of our home in South Dakota and an hour ahead of Jessica in Pennsylvania.

Along the way Barb was channeling her cousin Lori in Alaska and had to stop by every  Roadside America Attraction along the way which included this beauty.... This is Piloup Seal-like Mascot constructed in 1971 to commemorate the First Provincial Games of Quebec. Complete with mutated flippers! To be honest, I was more impressed with the church next door. 

Then there is the world's largest Fiddlehead in Plaster Rock New Brunswick. I mean, who would not want to see that!

Apparently they have a Fiddlehead Festival every year in this town. 108 between Plaster Rock and New Castle has to be one of the nastiest roads we have been on, bring extra shackles if you are bringing a trailer!

Once we got to New Castle, NB we parked at Richie Wharf. Plenty of room for any size rig and bonus you can boondock in the parking lot!

 We stopped for lunch at Mike's Bar and Grill where we had the Appetizer Platter and of course a couple of beers. 

Then it was off to French Fort Cove Park for a hike with the dogs. I don't know how long the hike was but it seemed like 12 miles after just eating all the fried food. Maybe like 3 miles with a lot of up and down. The girls really enjoyed getting out though. 

Then we got to some boardwalks. At first Dakota wanted nothing to do with them but after the first one she crossed the rest like a pro!

At the bottom, they both got to play in the water!

That night we heard some goings-on over at the pavillion so we walked over to see what all the fuss was about. It was Tuesday night in the park. Barb and I joined and brought the average age down by a few years! Nobody broke a hip, so I bet they considered that a good night. 

Then it was back to the camper for the night. Tomorrow we hit our next new province!